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UMass names four scientists to head RNA initiative

E-mail|Link|Comments (0) Posted by Elizabeth Cooney June 16, 2009 06:15 PM

Four noted scientists will lead one of three programs at the state's medical school that form a key part of the Massachusetts life sciences initiative.

The RNA Therapeutics Institute, part of the Advanced Therapeutics Cluster at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, will be headed by Nobel laureate Craig C. Mello and his colleagues Melissa J. Moore, Phillip D. Zamore, and Victor Ambros. The team will lead efforts to explore how RNA interference, a gene-silencing mechanism, might prevent or treat disease.

The institute, along with the Gene Therapy Center and the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, are part of a statewide effort to boost the life sciences. Guangping Gao was named director of the Gene Therapy Center in March. The medical school is still searching for a leader of the stem cell center.

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Elizabeth Cooney is a former health reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, where she also was a business reporter and an editor. Earlier in her career, she edited medical books and journals at Little, Brown, and worked for Boston magazine.